16th session of Arab environment, development commission kicks off

The Joint Commission on Environment and Development in the Arab World on Sunday kicked off meetings of its 16th session in Jeddah.
The meeting will prepare for the meeting of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment, also to be held in the western Saudi city next week.
More than 30 Arab, regional and international organizations concerned with the environment are taking part in the Commission meetings, in addition to the member states of the Arab League.
The agenda of the five-day session cover several environment and development issues, head of the Arab League's Department of Environment, Housing and Water Resources and Sustainable Development, Jamal Eddin Jaballah.
Participant will review the activities and events of the partners of the Arab Ministers of Environment, which include specialized organizations, Arab, regional and international, and civil society ones, he added.
They will also follow up on agreements of dangerous chemicals and waste, and the international meetings on desertification and biodiversity, in addition to the resolutions of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Initiative in the Arab Region and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
For his part, Undersecretary of Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), in Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Basit Al-Sairafi, urged the Arab countries to adopt a unified stance that secure national interests during the forthcoming meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, due later this month.